1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to automotive accessories and more particularly to a novel roll bar for mounting in a truck bed, which is assemblable from a plurality of preformed tubular segments which are joined together by inserts, shaped ends, plugs and the like, and which includes a mounting bracket for attachment to irregular surfaces.
2. Brief Description of the Prior Art
In the past, it has been the conventional practice to construct roll bars for installation in truck beds by fabricating tubular material into a one-piece construction having bends so that the ultimate construction is of a U-shaped member. The free ends of the member are attached by anchoring means to the bed of the truck and support braces of tubular material are then placed against the U-shaped member and the bed of the truck for stabilizing purposes. Generally, the braces and members are welded together. However, problems and difficulties have been encountered when using such conventional fabrication and assembly techniques which stem mainly from the fact that the roll bar is constructed to fit a particular size of truck bed, and once fabricated, cannot be used for other size truck beds. Therefore, such conventional fabrication techniques are not universal and the assembly cannot be arranged to accommodate a variety of truck beds of different sizes and shapes and cannot be installed on uneven or irregular truck bed surfaces. In the latter instance, the braces for the U-shaped member are generally placed on a wheel well and, in many instances, the wheel well offers curved or irregular surfaces to which the end of the braces cannot be attached.
Other problems have resulted from conventional construction due to the fact that exact measurements are required and high tolerances must be maintained. To fabricate properly, exact dimensions must be taken of a particularly truck bed and fabrication of tubular stock must be exact; otherwise, the construction will not fit into the truck bed properly.
Therefore, a long standing need has existed to provide a roll bar construction made from a plurality of tubular segments that may be selectively attached to one another in an end-to-end relationship and which may readily be mounted in a variety of truck beds having different dimensions and anchoring surfaces.